But does the phrase “Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses” have anything to do with AMERICAN – Constitutional VALUES?



And what VALUES do the opinions above represent – personal or American and please connect that value to the SHARED set of values represented in the Constitution.



So tell me – do you thing that the one most cherished SHARED VALUE of Americans is Freedom of speech?



HERE WE GO – a possibility, What SHARED American value does the right to bear arms represent?



Wow, I’m riled up now – so what Constitutional SHARED American VALUES have our leaders misrepresented?



If there was a message in the above quote which had anything to do with the OP, it needs to be clarified – without unnecessary terminology.

Do we all deserve equal representation under the law? Yes. Are we all equal? Equal in what? Physically, mentally? Hell no we aren't. Some people are average. Some people are above average some are awesome some are below average and some are horrible.

WHY? – What did they think was here that was better than anywhere else? How did the idea that America was the place to go? What VALUES drew them here?



If that framework did not represent VALUES, what did it represent?



Is that structure something ALL American citizens should believe in? Why, what’s so great about it?



What human characteristics do YOU think give an individual value?

Why is all men created equal a right? It's not in the constitution.

Do any States still have such policies? I thought they were all declared unconstitutional.

But I think I understand what you're saying. For some absurd reason, the majority in this country still seem to think that the best representitives for public office are those poeple whose VALUES are closely linked to a monotheistic religious affiliation, primarily some Christian faith.

With so much division within and between these faiths how can we expect their personal religious values to reflect a spirt of partisanship?

Perhaps with respect one can 'share'.

I am sure you have noticed that we do not 'share' the same point of view on many subjects.

Yet I respect your right to state your views. I have noticed that you respect my right to state my views.

so we do 'share' a belief in the 1st ammendment.

We hold these truths to be self-evident...

all men are endowed by their creator with...

... all men are created equal.

yep...

part of the constitution.

Placed in the part the says 'under god'.

Placed before the part that calls itself the bill of rights.

Constitution does not 'give' that right...

It assumes that god gave it to us allready.

there are plenty of shared value's between all American's, and all HUMANS for that matter?

what is a "value"?

to limit the definition of "value", one would first have to define the qualifier's used to measure value?

if one is referring most to religous value's, moral value's, relationship value's, family value's, these no doubt will differ, as each hath a individual personality, with a totally unique human experience to shape itself...

so, to stare at the actual "description of each unique set of value's, would leave no way to find common value's, or what is of root value to all, that none would dispute, as basic wants or needs of all?

i presume this be most what you seek to find out, by way of reducing the equasion to the simplest root form?

like any math equasion, reduce to the simplest equasion, or common denominator's, and it becomes redily apparent that human are not so complex after all, except in their desire to use complexity to create an image of intelligence, lol...

so, what be of a shared "value", of American's unamimously, as shared in ALL CASES???

food......shared for sure, as many will kill for it in time of famine

shelter.....shared

health.....shared for sure

life.....shared for sure, or all would kill themself right now, and none would have ever lived long enough for a knowing of committed suicide, lol...

love......whether it be a person, or new car, or the neighbor's wife, everybody love's something enough to try to have it.

safety.....shared, or none would try to protect themself from any harm.

respect....shared for sure, so much so that it has come to be insisted and demanded by almost all, lol....not a good practice

dignity....too close to respect? not really, for dignity rather means no one wishes to be exposed in vulnerable situation's, like a booger hanging from the nasal passage during a sales presentation, or a blood stain from a menstrual mishap while speaking before and audience...

a heard voice.....shared in all cases without fail

no pain without consent.....shared in all cases

money.....shared for sure, as the total "system of life" has been built upon the ability of it to procure for self.

happiness......shared for sure, or no one would care if another made them unhappy.

freedom......shared for sure, to move about without restriction, or at least without undo restriction, as could apply to many of the above listed "value's"...

other people......shared value for sure, even though many do not realize the misery that would ensue if no other human were around period, lol...

it seem's the list could go on for sometime, and the use of the word "value" in itself, does not reduce to the simplest equasion in itself?

it seems it would be more beneficial, if one was looking to find "commonality", to reduce all things to the natural "wants" of human's, for to define the line between need and want, then would be the only source of debate, lol.....

the word "value's" in itself, denote to the brain more the figments of ideal's, that shrowd the simplicity of the word "value" itself, no doubt this being created by the sheer "want" of human's to make themself complex, to increase the value of oneself in it's own eyes?

but one thing be for sure, not one of the things listed above, doth an American NOT VALUE, or any human for that matter, and none wish to do without them?

so it cannot be denied that all of these are "shared things of value", to the American poplulous, and as well, common or shared by all human's within the world.

so, what was the point of this anyhow?

to bring human's together, to see that each have the same basic wants of all other's?

well, that would be far too simplistic, and offend the very value human's place on themself, lol...

there are no doubt many other things that human's value, beyond the scope of common, but age comes into play, when considering these things, such a religous freedom, sex, life partner preference, and the things of that sort, but still overall, the impact of the root drive to "procure" the above listed "shared value's", hath more power than one might aat first realize...

the best way to see the power of each value, is to remove it from the equasion of humanity, and see the most extreme effect?

as in food?

starvation without, imminent death.

these things really do tug more at the subconscious level, dictating the root drive of self preservation within the human species, so to underestimate their power to control human behaviour, toward the better good, or the less than good, would be a grave mistake.

to focus on the wants, or value's, that drive human behaviour to shape the belief's as called value's, can never create any unity or commonality, as these will differ for each human born, so will be debateable unto infinity.

each be righ in it's own eye's.

just one cent

Well said, MW!



(Except for the pro-capital punishment bit).

Dude that is the declaration of independence not the constitution.
It was used to go against the idea of the Divine right as kings.

That's a pretty broad statement - How do we know that? Is there support for this idea anywhere else in that early Constitution?



But isn't religious freedom A value that all Americans are proud of?




Another poster wrote:


Could it be that the addition of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was one of those “interpretation” errors that the poster is sick of?





Ah yes – voting, I agree this is a shared source of pride but because it wasn’t always so, I had to think about what value or what human characteristic this behavior (voting) represents.

WE THE PEOPLE, the preamble to the Constitution –

We (all citizens of the USA) have a goal, “to form a more perfect union” than those which have been established before us.

It was through the Declaration of Independence that every citizen of these United States of America became a sovereign entity. On this principle was founded the idea that every citizen, in fact all men (humans) are sovereigns unto themselves (kings and queens) with the freedom to rule over their own destiny.

Fortunately – the Constitution was designed for utility, in that it lacked detail in many areas. This detail was left to future generations to fill in.



So it seems that, on occasion, it is NECESSARY, to ‘clarify’ what was intended – perhaps it is reinterpretation, but if the document were not a living part of our society it would provide little utility as an agent which serves to bind all citizens to a union with ‘common goals’.

So, I think the human characteristic of value that voting represents IS that of equality.

As for the American Dream:


That too is tied into the fundamental equality inherent in all humans – the basic rights of every human to have the liberty to pursue the necessities of life and find happiness in the process.

Acutally, DIVERSITY, is all about BOTH our similarities and our differences. We are not really a melting pot, we are a union of people who share 'certain' ideals.

As you said we cannot always put our finger on it, but it's there.

That's not good enough though. We all ought to be able to pinpoint our similarities. Isn't that what NATIONALISM - pride in our country, is really supposed to be about?

Instead we focus on our differences becasue we can no longer define what our similarities are -- THAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF THIS THREAD,
to remind each other of those similarities.

The progress this Nation has made, in its short existence, is the product of the diversity that this country has drawn to its shores. Without the diverse backgrounds and heritage of every citizen we could not have accomplished the role we have so long held in World leadership.

Stating opinions is a WONDERFUL thing - they are the product of diversity and with those opinons are somebodies values BUT how can we do justice to our own values when we can't even pinpoint what they are.

How we say things should represent the importance of the message. If we cannot respect how we represent ourselves, how can we find the respect of others for what we have to say?

BY THE WAY, thanks for the post I'm happy you were able to decifer a larger message from the OP.

Without the declaraton of independance the constitution is but a piece of paper.

It is still a piece of paper. It doesn't change the fact that it is not in the constitution.

Also, we can't claim to be a free religious society and claim that the reason we are all equal is because God created us that way. Where does that put religious beliefs that don't believe in God.

They also called it a truth and not a right. He was quoting rights but is never listed as such.

There seems to be a misunderstanding by many people about the definition of equality as it pertains values within the Constitution.

But we are not alone in this mistake - if the value of human equality had been clear, we would not have needed clarification in the form of Civil Rights amendments.

All humans are equal in very basic and fundamental ways. We all NEED the basic elements that sustain our lives, food, clean water, shelter, access to medical care and the freedom to develop our internal potential. We need a welcoming environment in which to externalize that potential and we all have a basic need to find purpose.

Aside from that- as humans we are entitled (each of us) to certain legitimate expectations. Through our intrinsic nature we are all equal which legitimizes each individuals’ claim to be respected by others, to be unhindered in our right to pursue a livelihood and to freely believe, think, and speak without fearing other.

Equality, however, is not a one-sided venture, on the other side of the equation individuals are NOT free of the responsibility to ensure that his own behavior does not impede or infringe of the same, equal, legitimate expectations of others.

That is how we equal, not in temperament, not in experience or personality or intelligence or any other ‘individually’ held characteristics. Those are the ways in which we differ.

However, we do come together to form groups in which we SHARE certain goals, ideals, and values. That was the idea behind the Constitution.

Thanks for joining in with the spirit of the OP. We argue so much in these threads about our differences that I think we forget how much we have in common. Whatever, we share in common it should be enough to warrent some basic respect.

I did put limitations on the type of values that I thought would be relavent to the OP. The SHARED VALUES between the Citizens of the USA and their Constitution.

I agree with you, but I think you misunderstood my post. I was not asking the question because I wanted an answer. I was asking the question because I wanted others to think on this. I could tell by your posts your thought process on this was already on the same level as mine I just make it more blunt because I am lazy XD. This was for all the others in the thread.

That's true and the OP does specifically point to the Constitution. However, the Declaration of Independence encompassed the ideals of freedom and liberty. The document set the framework within which the Constitution was set.

Reference is often made to the Declaration of Independence to clarify the values that were transferred to the Constitution. Just wanted to point that out.

Well - it worked, you make ME think about it and so I answered. Thanks for joining the discussion.